


Quilting

by VeraBAdler



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Bunker Fic, Fluff, Gratuitous Crafting, M/M, Possibly Inaccurate Crafting Terms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-25
Updated: 2017-01-25
Packaged: 2018-09-19 23:05:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9464513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VeraBAdler/pseuds/VeraBAdler
Summary: Cas takes up a hobby, and Dean joins him.





	

After he moves into the Bunker for good, Cas feels the need for a hobby. This need, in itself, is a bit of a miracle – a former Soldier of God looking for a frivolous way to pass his time. He feels a strong desire to _create_ , after eons of battle and destruction.

At first he takes up knitting. It keeps his hands busy, and he enjoys converting colorful tangles of yarn into usable shapes. But after knitting hats and scarves for himself and both Winchesters, and hats and scarves for everyone they know, and a big box of hats and scarves to donate to charity, he thinks maybe it's time to try a different hobby.

[](http://i.imgur.com/CerZMtn.jpg)When Sam takes an afternoon to weed through his closet, filling the rag bag with a half dozen worn-out flannels, Cas gets the idea to take up quilting. His first quilt takes about six weeks to finish, and he finds the process quite soothing – cutting the shirts into pieces, laying them out in different arrangements until he finds the one he likes, sewing everything together with tiny meticulous stitches, finishing with batting and binding... When he lays the finished product over the couch in the library, he's thoroughly satisfied with his work.

Even more satisfying is the speed with which Sam commandeers the quilt for his bed (“They were my shirts, and my room's the coldest, so I need it!!”) and the vigor with which Dean protests the move (“Cas made it for all of us to use! How am I supposed to nap on the couch without it??”). Cas is flattered to find his work in such demand.

He's pleased to think of Sam staying warm under his handiwork, but the few times he's been in Dean's room he's found it rather drafty as well, and he doesn't like the thought of his friend being uncomfortable in any way. If Dean were to catch a chill while sleeping he could become quite sick, a prospect that Castiel finds deeply troubling. He decides that his next project must be something just for Dean.

He spends an afternoon in the local library, looking through books of quilt patterns and techniques. When he learns that it's possible to make a sturdy and decorative quilt from t-shirts, he smiles and decides.

At first Dean is a little sad about cutting up any of his vintage rock t's, but Cas convinces him that a quilt is a good way to preserve the shirts that are too “well loved” to be wearable. They sit on Dean's bed and go through all of them; Dean tells the story of where and how he got each one, then he tells other stories from his younger years. They sit together all afternoon, swapping anecdotes and laughing about past glories.

Another afternoon is passed cutting the worn shirts into pieces. Dean supervises as Cas cuts, making sure that the band logos and lists of tour dates stay intact. They lay the pieces out on the war room table, shuffling and rearranging until they're both satisfied. They bicker playfully about the design; Castiel favors a symmetrical arrangement, while Dean prefers a more casual look. Once they've settled on the placement of all the pieces, Cas begins sewing them together.

When he'd made his first quilt, the work had been solitary. No one had paid much attention to what he was doing, and he'd done most of the stitching while sitting alone on his bed or in the library while Sam and Dean did their own things elsewhere. As he's working on Dean's quilt, however, he is almost never alone.

If he's sewing in the library, Dean sits on the couch with him and they watch movies or talk about the movies they've already watched. Dean has a long list of films that he feels his friend needs to see, and they work steadily through the list as the quilt progresses.

If Cas is sewing in his room, Dean comes and keeps him company. At first he sits on the chair by Cas's bed, playing a game on his phone or cleaning his gun. But as the quilt top nears completion and the weather outside the Bunker turns colder, he often ends up side by side with Cas on his bed, their legs pressed close together under the unfinished blanket.

[](http://i.imgur.com/WcHGqZc.jpg)Once the pieces have been joined, all that remains is to attach the batting and the backing and to sew on the binding. Dean is impatient to use his quilt and offers to assist. He's been sewing up rips, patching holes, and replacing buttons on their clothes since he was a kid, so it's easy for him to emulate his friend's careful technique. They lay the work out on the war table again and sew side by side, teasing each other about whose stitches are neater and who works faster.

It's over the newly-finished quilt that Cas kisses Dean for the first time. The hours they've spent together and the intimate conversations they've shared while working on the blanket have allowed him to hope that he won't be rebuffed, that he's not alone in his tender feelings. Dean's response is immediate and enthusiastic.

Sam walks into the room twenty minutes later and finds them making out – hair ruffled, faces flushed, hands up shirts and roaming. He stammers out congratulations while also begging that they “take it to a room, guys, _please_.” Dean scoops up the quilt and wraps it around his angel's shoulders before grabbing his hand and tugging him down the hall.

In the years to come, the quilt takes pride of place on their bed, in their room. No matter how drafty it gets in the Bunker, Dean and Cas stay warm together.

**Author's Note:**

> Image for Sam's quilt from [here](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/144959681729803758/).  
> Image for Dean's quilt from [here](https://www.toocooltshirtquilts.com/blog-0/bid/197880/Rock-n-Roll-Concert-T-shirt-Quilts), although Dean's actual quilt would probably feature a slightly different mix of bands.
> 
> I don't quilt, so I apologize if any of the terminology is used incorrectly.
> 
> This piece is [also on tumblr](http://blessyourhondahurley.tumblr.com/post/156373033986/quilting).


End file.
